My GW 60 is about three years old and is going fine except for one thing. It would seem the battery is starting to die. I'm only getting about an hour out of a charge. Does anybody know if Locosystems have a battery replacement service ? Or, is there any technique for revamping the battery without removing it ?
Have a look at this link. No, can't rejuvenate LIPO batteries.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/GW60-Battery-replacement
I recommend cutting the battery leads and then splicing the new battery onto them. That way you don't have to remove the board or reflow the battery terminals on the board (which is a bit tricky). Cover the board with paper or cardboard so a solder does not fall onto it.
Doesn't look good. I'd make sure I didn't damage the plastic covering, I'm not sure what the electrolyte is in lithium batteries, but it's probably not nice. Then there's the fire risk, don't know much about that either.
I may have left it too late. The day before I got the new battery the gw60 went faulty. Backing light was on by itself, then time reset to 11:59pm now all buttons unresponsive. I suspect this was caused by the old battery. New battery in, fault remains.Reload firmware,same. Except now it's going to take ages for the watch to run flat (which sometimes fixes this problem)
Is there electrolyte on the board ?
If so, give it an IPA bath (remove the LCD display), then reflow with hot gas station (with liquid flux). Then another IPA bathy.
Nb/ IPA = Isopropyl Alcohol, not the extra hoppy ale
No electrolyte on board. Only on the piezo thing that the 2 springs support. Problem seems to be coming good now. Managed to get it into gps mode so at least the time is right now. I have some IPA if I need it.
In my model plane days I seen heaps of puffy lipo batteries explode into flames best thing to do with the old one is stand back and chuck it in a bucket of water to kill it, don't leave it around home if she goes off you could have a fire.
Latest innovation. I was worried about the waterproofing but didn't want to use a permanent adhesive sealant so I used a bit of Tefgel. Fingers crossed.
I put mine back dry and hasn't been a problem, but that looks like a good idea. My main leak worry is the buttons. Mal Faulkner suggested a tapered shaft as a possibility, when I said I couldn't see any seal that vented when the buttons are pressed.
Great result.
So big question, the new battery is 5mm longer and 4mm narrower. Was there any problems fitting it?
Edit, actually 0.5mm thicker and 4mm narrower same length
Can we fit a slightly bigger then 250mAh battery to last and record logs for a longer period ? I believe that technology is constantly improving so maybe somebody doubled the capacity already at same size ?
OK we better make a note of that then for future reference.
That's 602025 for the new. 552425 for the old.
And of course I got that wrong!
The new is 6mm thick 20mm wide and 25mm long.
The old is 5.5mm thick 24mm wide and 25mm long